by Jorge Rodriguez | Jan 28, 2014 | Flu, Flu Shots, H1N1
Five years ago I was working a lot for CNN. We were constantly doing reports on the H1N1 pandemic. You can actually go on YouTube and check out my channel: drjorgemd and see me discuss it ad nauseam with Anderson Cooper. It was estimated to potentially kill hundreds of thousands of people. Luckily enough people were vaccinated and a catastrophe of epic proportions was avoided. Well it is flu season again and guess what the predominant virus is: H1N1.
Similar to the outbreak in 2009, this strain of the virus does not discriminate against age. It tends to hit adults aged 18 to 64 the hardest but elderly, children and those with chronic illnesses are still at risk. The good news is it’s not too late to get a flu shot and this year’s vaccine does cover the H1N1 virus.
Whatever you do, don’t buy into the hype of all the myths and rumors surrounding the vaccine. Studies have proven the flu shot to be safe and effective and a much better alternative to the risks of the flu itself. Check out a recent blog post in which I debunk the most common myths.
This year there are several types of flu vaccines. The trivalent shot protects against two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain. It’s available in a standard dose, a high dose for patients over the age of 65, an egg-free formula for patients with egg allergies and an intradermal shot that is injected into the skin instead of the muscle.
The quadrivalent shot is new this year and protects against two influenza A and two influenza B strains. It’s available in a standard dose injection and a nasal spray.
Vacuna influenza / Flu vaccine by El Alvi is licensed under CC BY 2.0
According to the Centers for Disease Control, influenza activity is widespread in 41 states right now and the virus is active in most areas across the country and U.S. territories. Flu season typically hits its peak toward the end of January to the beginning of February. So, it’s important to take precautions right away, if you haven’t already.
Symptoms of the flu include a bad cough, high fever, runny nose, body/muscle aches and fatigue. The flu shot is the best way to prevent getting sick but it’s also important to avoid contact or close proximity to those who are sick, wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your nose, eyes and mouth.
And if you do catch the flu, stay home to keep i from spreading further. Also be sure to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids.
by Jorge Rodriguez | Jan 9, 2014 | Cold Weather
When the temperatures start to plummet, like they have for a lot of the country this week, it’s time to turn up the heat and take important safety precautions to weather the storm. Frigid temperatures put everyone – especially the very young and old – at risk for frostbite and hypothermia.
It only takes five minutes for skin to freeze in sub-zero weather, so it’s important to know what signs to watch for and how to protect yourself.
When you start shivering, that’s the first sign that you need some extra warmth. Your extremities including fingers, toes and nose start to turn red. These are all ordinary signs that it’s cold outside. But once your fingertips start to hurt, tingle or feel numb – that’s a sign that frostbite is near. According to the Mayo Clinic, frostbite occurs when your skin and the tissue underneath it freeze. Skin becomes very cold, then numb and pale. It’s serious because it can lead to tissue and nerve damage.
Hypothermia is even more serious and occurs when your core body temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit. With hypothermia, your body loses heat faster that it can produce heat. This severe condition can cause your organs to shut down and leads to complete failure of the heart and respiratory system and eventually death. The first signs include tiredness, confusion and dehydration. Seek medical care if you or someone you know displays any of those signs after exposure to cold.
The obvious solution is to avoid being outdoors during extreme weather but if you can’t avoid it, here are a few tips:
- Trap body heat with multiple layers of loose-fitting clothes. Experts recommend wearing at least three layers: one to wick moisture, one for insulation and one to protect from wind and rain. Read this article, Layering Basics, from REI for more precise tips.
- Know your limits for outdoor exercise. Working up a sweat is a good thing, but being wet (even from sweat) is risky in sub-zero weather. It makes it harder to maintain your body temperature and increases the risk of hypothermia. The Huffington Post offers tips for creating a winter exercise plan that’s safe and enjoyable.
- Protect your digits with insulated gloves or mittens. Your fingertips and other extremities will be the first to feel the effects of the cold. It’s important to keep them warm and dry.
- Wear insulated, waterproof footwear and wool socks to ensure that your feet stay dry.
- Heat escapes from your head so wear a hat –preferably one that covers your ears.
- A long, thick scarf does double duty. It keeps your neck warm and it can be wrapped around your face as well.
- Consider a face mask for extra protection. Your cheeks are especially susceptible to frostbite and are one of the first areas to feel the cold.
It’s not often that temperatures drop to the record lows that we’ve had this week. When they do, it’s more important than ever to keep exposure to a minimum. And when normal winter weather returns, these tips will allow you to enjoy all that the season has to offer. Stay safe and warm!
by Jorge Rodriguez | Dec 18, 2013 | Colon Cancer, Colonoscopy
I recently performed a colonoscopy on two of my fellow docs on THE DOCTORS: Travis Stork and Jim Sears. We were emphasizing the importance of colon cancer screening. You can actually go on line and see their colonoscopies. The process went smoothly and Dr. Travis even chose to forego anesthesia — although I certainly don’t recommend taking that route! All-in-all, though, everything went well and I know they would both tell you it was worth every ounce of colon cleanser they had to chug!
If you’re 50 or older and haven’t had a colonoscopy, you need to make an appointment right away. That may sound dramatic, but I couldn’t be more serious. Every day that you wait, your life is on the line. Colon cancer is a silent killer — symptoms don’t appear until it has spread and is much harder to treat. In fact, every year approximately 51,000 people die from the disease — far too many deaths could have been prevented. When caught early, the survival rate is right around 90 percent.
Colon cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death, according to AARP. But it’s largely preventable. Regular colonoscopy exams allow your doctor to find and remove polyps (abnormal tissue growths on the inside of the colon) from your colon before they can become a problem.
The American Cancer Society says, “Removing polyps can help prevent colorectal cancer from ever starting. And cancers found in an early stage, while they are small and before they have spread, are more easily treated. Nine out of 10 people whose colon cancer is discovered early will be alive 5 years later. And many will live a normal life span.”
You know it’s important, so what’s keeping you from scheduling the appointment? If you’re like most people, it’s a combination of fear of the unknown and the crazy horror stories you’ve heard about the dreaded preparation involved. And, let’s face it, the thought of your doctor getting upfront and personal is probably a bit off-putting as well. Because the truth is usually a lot less scary than our imaginations, I recently performed a live exam for national television.
The most daunting part of a colonoscopy is by far the preparation, which is the process you go through to completely empty your bowels. It involves a liquid-only diet the day before the exam and chugging a gallon of not-so delicious PEG-solution over a four-hour period the night before. No lie, you will definitely need to be close to a toilet the night before your exam.
Listen, I had to drink it myself for my colonoscopy. It really is not that bad. It is crucial to do it correctly. My bud Travis, thought he was pulling a fast one on me by eating the day before. If you notice on the tape of the show, his colon was not nearly as clean as Dr. Sears’. This is important because a cancerous polyp may have been hidden underneath stool. Luckily in his case it was normal. So do it right the first time, because as challenging as a massive case of the runs is, it’s nothing compared to colon cancer, chemo treatments and radiation therapy. Ask anyone who has lost a loved one to colon cancer — they are typically the most outspoken supporters of regular colonoscopy exams.
The Colon Cancer Alliance has put together a list of tips to make the prep more bearable. As for the exam itself, most patients are sedated and are unaware of what’s going on inside of them. Most importantly, it can save your life. So, what are you waiting for? Go make your appointment now!
by Jorge Rodriguez | Dec 10, 2013 | Bone Marrow, HIV
It was reported last week that HIV had returned in two HIV positive men after bone marrow transplants had seemingly wiped the virus out. The men were thought to be cured as there was no trace of the virus for several months after foregoing their antiretroviral drugs. But the virus returned in August for one of the men, November for the other. This setback has been widely seen as a disappointment and a step backward on the road toward an eventual cure, but I strongly disagree.
The word “cure” was again uttered in regards to HIV a couple of years ago in the case of Timothy Brown. Mr. Brown was HIV positive and also had a form of blood cancer. His only treatment was a bone marrow transplant.
It was purely coincidence that Mr. Brown’s bone marrow donor lacked a gene called the delta-32. Without this gene all T cells made from that marrow would lack an essential protein necessary for the HIV virus to invade the T cells. In essence Mr. Brown’s T cells became resistant to HIV infection — something found in only a small percentage of the world population.
The case of the two patients at Brigham’s Women’s hospital in Boston is quite different. These two men were HIV positive and had a blood cancer like Mr. Brown. They had been on successful HIV therapy until the time of their new transplant with bone marrow stem cells. Therefore, there was no evidence of HIV in their blood stream at the time of the transplant.
The difference from Timothy Brown’s case, however, is that the bone marrow donors did NOT have the missing delta-32 gene. The hope was that since there was no HIV in the blood, the new T- cells would not get infected. Alas, they both showed signs of recurrent infection within the year.
What this tells us is that even though HIV can be virtually eradicated from the blood, it is still hiding in very deep reservoirs within the body. These reservoirs could be cells of almost any organ, including the brain.
Obviously research needs to continue in developing medications that can block the CCR5 protein (what the delta-32 gene codes for) or possibly creating stem cell banks of tissue that is deficient in the delta-32 gene.
This is not a step backward. On the contrary, any scientific information propels us forward. We have learned from this. It DOES take us one step closer to a cure for HIV.
by Jorge Rodriguez | Dec 6, 2013 | Autism, Flu, Flu Shots, Vaccines
I LOVE talking and writing about vaccines…just LOVE it. Especially since a lot of my friends in earthy, green, tree hugging California, where I happen to live, are against vaccinations. I am a medical doctor and excuse me for giving advice based about scientific data. (Do you sense the sarcasm yet?) Here is some data: vaccinations, for whooping cough, polio, tetanus, hepatitis and diphtheria, just to name a few, have saved millions of lives. FACT. I believe it is almost criminal for people who do not have a sense of this history to make erroneous claims regarding vaccines and in turn persuade others not to vaccinate themselves and their children. This type of “magical thinking” has lead to a resurgence of diseases that were almost eradicated. But let me stick to one type of vaccine before I fall off my soap box: the flu vaccine.
Flu season is upon us and if you’re like a lot of consumers, you may be wondering if the flu shot is worth the hassle, pain and potential risk. Google “Is the flu shot safe?” and you will find a plethora of information that is muddled in myth, rumor and exaggeration. I thought I’d take a moment and address some of the most common myths about the flu shot….
It can give you the flu. This is absolutely false. Most versions of the vaccine contain inactivated strains of the flu virus — meaning it is dead. It cannot cause illness. The nasal spray does contain a live form of the virus but it’s attenuated, which simply means that it’s weakened and it cannot thrive within the warm conditions of your body. Patients who contract the flu shortly after getting the shot were likely already infected or came into contact with the illness before the vaccine was effective — it takes up to two weeks for the vaccine to build immunity in your system.
It’s linked to Alzheimer’s. This rumor has been disproven in multiple studies that actually show the opposite may be true — individuals who get the flu shot may have a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association also says there is no credibility to this common myth.
It’s not safe for pregnant women. Studies show that women are at greater risk for complications from the flu while they are pregnant than when they are not. The antibodies mom builds up from a flu shot during pregnancy have also been shown to benefit her baby while in utero and protect her precious bundle from serious flu related complications after birth.
It doesn’t work. Sure, it’s not 100 percent effective — nothing is — and its effectiveness varies from year to year. But a recent study shows that even in seasons when the vaccine isn’t a complete match to the strains circulating, the flu shot is still effective for the majority of the population. It has also been shown to reduce the severity of the illness for those immunized patients who still catch the flu.
It can give you Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS). There was a time when this was a concern. Back in 1976 there was a “small but significant association” between GBS — a neurological disorder than can cause weakness and temporary paralysis — and a vaccine for the swine flu. Vaccines are formulated differently today and recent studiesshow no link between the illness and the flu shot.
It contains mercury and it causes autism. Many naysayers point to the mercury contained in Thimerosal — a preservative that has widely been discontinued in vaccines — saying that it can cause brain damage and autism. While it’s true that methyl mercury can cause brain damage, it’s completely false when it comes to the ethyl mercury contained in Thimerosal. The differences can be likened to those between ethyl and methyl alcohol. One might cause a hangover, the other blindness. Furthermore, all single-dose vials of the flu shot are actually Thimerosal-free and studies prove that the preservative is absolutely harmless.
Everything that we do contains some element of risk and the flu vaccine is no different. Still, study after study show that the risks are minor and very insignificant. The flu on the other hand can be miserable at the very least and absolutely deadly for some. Recently, flu-associated deaths in the United States have been as high as 49,000 in one year. This is nothing to SNEEZE at! Weigh in… have you had your shot yet?
Picture 1 – A healthy T cell; attribution: “Healthy Human T Cell” by NIAID is licensed under CC by 2.0
Picture 2- An HIV-infected T cell; attribution: “HIV-infected HP T cell” by NIAID is licensed under CC BY 2.0
